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Pit Book/Discussion Thread

Who is the funniest writer of all time?

Pope?
Wilde?
Vonnegut?
 
I've been reading Dan Brown's novels recently (finishing up "Deception Point" currently), and I was wondering what everyone thought about his writing style.
 
I've been reading Dan Brown's novels recently (finishing up "Deception Point" currently), and I was wondering what everyone thought about his writing style.

I don't notice anything particularly noteworthy about it; I think he writes for the masses. Action-driven plots and pretty simple style. Nothing about it really lends itself to enhance the book in any way, unless I've totally forgotten.
 
So I finally got around to the Questlove book, and there’s a part where his manager gets the Roots’ label to fund a days-long jam session at his house in Philly with random people joining in here and there. Kind of reminded me of the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test for a bit.

Some of the people there were from The Roots, but most weren’t. Most were normal people who aspired to careers in entertainment. All were welcome. And so the next thing you know, the girl who worked at Jeans West wanted to sing. That was Jill Scott. The pizza delivery guy, Jamal, thought that maybe he’d take his turn on the microphone, too, because he had done some singing, and he thought he had something to contribute. That was Musiq Soulchild. The little teenager up past his bedtime, wailing jazz songs out of his mind, was Bilal. The stripper girl was Eve, who was still calling herself Eve of Destruction. A friend of mine visited from Atlanta and brought a girl with a guitar, and that was India.Arie. Jasmine Sullivan was there, ten years old but with the voice of a grown woman. Common was there. All of this unfolded in my living room in South Philadelphia in the late nineties.
 
Finally got around to reading Unbroken. Incredible. Must read for anyone.

Just finished The Boys in the Boat about the UW crew team that qualifies to race in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Really interesting.
 
Reading Lolita right now because I've been putting it off for too long.
 
I'm probably not using my goodreads account to its full potential because I only use it to assign a quick star rating to what I've just finished, but I'm not really sure what its full potential is.
 
I just use it to see what my friends are reading and then usually follow up for recommendations. I think their recommendations algorithm is supposed to be pretty good, but I've never referred to it.
 
Anyone here use Oyster books? I got a subscription for Christmas and have been flying through Chabon and Vonnegut stuff so far.
 
Anyone here use Oyster books? I got a subscription for Christmas and have been flying through Chabon and Vonnegut stuff so far.

I've never heard of it. What do you like about it?
 
I've never heard of it. What do you like about it?

Well it is just like Netflix in the sense that there are a lot books available in nearly every category. Also like Netflix it won't have a ton of brand new books or a lot of recently popular titles like The Hunger Games, or John Grisham books. It does have a ton of classics and a lot of books mentioned on here (Barbarians at the Gate, Tolstoy, Vonnegut, Hubert Selby, etc.)

I really like it, it helps me test different writers out before I invest a lot of time or money into their stuff. A good example of this, for me, is Chabon. I don't think invest would have read his stuff if it wasn't for having this access.
 
As regards Chabon, I feel like I only really enjoyed Kavalier and Clay. I didn't like Yiddish Policeman's Union or Manhood for Amateurs all that much. Guess I should read Wonder Boys since that's probably his most famous.

Wonderboys was the first one I read, and loved it. I think you would really like it. I haven't read the ones you've named but I did read Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and Maps and Legends. I really need to read Kavalier and Clay.
 
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